Harry

padfoot_puppyeyes

Rating: PG
Genres: Romance, Humor
Relationships: Lily & James
Book: Lily & James, Books 1 - 5
Published: 26/10/2004
Last Updated: 04/01/2006
Status: in_progress

Ever wonder where Harry got his name? How about what brought James out of his childish pranks and drew Lily towards him? And what about what James did to make Peter turn on him so suddenly? Something, or someone, must have drawn Lily and James together, even as it drove the Marauders and tradition apart. All of your questions and more answered. The romance will come later, and for now the plot revolves around bitterness, jealousy, hurt, lies, and grief.

Chapters

1. Familiar Faces, Familiar Places

2. Getting to Know You Again

3. Stealing Peter's Place

4. The Greatest Form of Flattery

5. A Sirius Discussion

6. The Value of Words

7. Halloween Homesickness

8. Stuck On the Stairs

9. Snow and Sisters

1. Familiar Faces, Familiar Places

AN- I decided that if I were all of you, meaning the people that take the time to read this, I would be pretty angry right about now, and decided that I therefore had to put forward some time to work on this. I've been kind of sick, and I know that sounds like it's have been the perfect time to write, but I had writers block then. It's still there, but it's this or my third novel, and I'm getting nowhere on the novel, (Prongs, please don't kill me!) So instead I'm winging it at this. Please tell me how you like it. Also, the whole fic is in third person, but I like to switch POV's. If you have a problem with this…sorry, mate, tough luck.

Disclaimer- you know, one day, I'll be writing fanfics for my own story, and then I wont have to write one of these…

Familiar Faces, Familiar Places

Watching the two specks above him that represented his best friends, Remus Lupin shook his head. School had only begun yesterday, and already they were at it. The pranks had been pulled for the day, and Quidditch, as always, came before homework.

“Oi, Moony, catch!” Jolted out of his thoughts, werewolf instinct reacted before he could and caught the red Quaffle for him.

Tossing it back at the thrower, Remus Lupin called, “Prongs, don't you think it's time we head in? It's almost dark, and we've still got a Transfiguration assignment, and that Potions essay, and Padfoot has an Arithmancy make-up test from the last time he faked sick to get out of homework.”

James, snickering, landed with ease beside Remus and said, “Yeah, I guess you're right. I still can't believe he got more homework than he would've if he'd went to the class, but at least it gave us some free time.” When the black-haired boy grinned crookedly, shouldering his broom, Remus said,

“I really don't even want to know what you did with that spare time. Tell Padfoot to pack it up.”

Obeying James's orders, Sirius Black stuffed the Quaffle in the wooden box and handed it to Remus, who protested until James pointed out that he had nothing else to carry. It looked, to them, like this year would be exactly the same. Their last year of Hogwarts would be normal.

Until a boy with dark green eyes and a lightning bolt scar fell from mid-air. Because Harry Potter and normal rarely are allowed to be put in the same sentence.

Harry Potter, meanwhile, was not having nearly as nice of a time of things. His rescue mission to find his godfather had been simple, and private. He had simply walked into the veil, confident in the logic Hermione had put forward; the veil was the rip between the living and dead. But as Sirius had been living when he'd fallen in, he had to be living in the realm of the dead.

So how had he ended up at Hogwarts? Was this some sort of parallel universe? But why were there students here, out on the grounds this late? They hadn't been allowed out since Voldemort's attacks had become so much more frequent. Did Voldemort even exist in this world?

Seeing the last of them start to head inside, Harry decided quickly that he had better follow. Shouldering the bag that contained his most treasured possessions, (he hadn't known how long he would have to be wherever it was he had ended up) Harry Potter swept out of the shadows and into the twilight. Easily catching up to the group of boys in front of him, he poked one of the black-haired ones in the back of the neck.

Well, that had been a mistake.

The boy turned around to look at him, surprise written on his features. Before Harry could say a word, he asked, “Did you know that it's way past curfew? I mean, we've never minded, but I've never seen anyone else out this late.”

Harry, too shocked to say anything, merely stared up at the man he'd seen in all his photographs, but never seen in person. James Potter was standing in front of him, staring at him expectantly. (I could leave you here, but that would be too short and on a cliffhanger, and I'm nicer than that…plus, it's too predictable. I'd like to think I'm not.)

“Well?” James asked, staring down at him.

:”Uh…” Harry was too flabbergast to say anything for a moment, until he began to collect himself after James said,

“I know I'm good looking, aren't I?” It was only said to tease Harry for staring, but it brought him back to his senses fully. Snape had been right; his father was a bigheaded, arrogant, annoying…

“ Can you show me to the Headmaster's office? I need to be sorted, I'm a transfer student.” Remus's senses were already on alert. Something was extremely off about this boy. But how had he known that Hogwarts students were sorted? Every school dealt with things such as Houses differently. He waited for an explanation, but when none came, and it didn't look like any were coming, he said,

“Sure, follow me,” probably saving the new boy from a good amount of hexing and pranking on Sirius and James's behalves.

Now that he was past staring at the emerald eyes, he knew why he had felt weird about this new boy. Nearly everything about him was similar to James. His hair, his face…

But now that Remus looked even harder, he noticed big differences too. He was quite a bit paler than James and much skinnier. `That would change at Hogwarts' Remus thought. If the boy hadn't been getting enough to eat before, he'd see to it personally that he stuffed his face every meal. His eyes, as said before were green, and were nearly so bright that Remus had to fight the impulse to dim the lights in the corridor and see if they would glow. They were shaped quite a bit differently from James's and held no laughter or joy, or anything other than sadness, and reserve, and grief, and something Remus couldn't even understand. As though sensing that Remus was trying to understand him, studying him, the shade of green became darker and glazed, successfully hiding anything he was thinking about or feeling.

But the most notable difference was the way he walked. This boy walked as though he were carrying much more than a small bag of meager possessions on his back. He walked as though the weight of the world rested on his shoulders.

If only Remus Lupin knew.

As it was, Remus didn't know. He was leading Harry though the familiar passages of Hogwarts, stopping to explain himself to a few prefects and to simply say hi to the friendlier ones. Finally stopping in front of the gargoyle, he said, “ Gummy Snakes,” and walked onto the stairs, waiting for Harry to follow him.

As Remus was explaining to Dumbledore, Harry was looking around. Fawkes, the phoenix he had befriended in his own time, now came to him, landing on his shoulder gently. Dumbledore seemed surprised for a minute, until a look of understanding flashed across his features. Dismissing Remus, he waited until he knew the boy was out of earshot before he said, “So how did you happen to end up here?”

“Time-Travel.” Harry replied simply, stroking Fawkes's head gently. “I'd tell you more, but I don't think it's a good idea. How'd you know?”

“A phoenix always trusts. You need only gain their trust once; it stays with them forever, no matter what the time. Speaking of, which time-period are you from?”

“1996.”

“What year are you in?”

“What year are the Marauders in?” If Dumbledore thought for a moment that he would lose this one chance to get to know his parents, he was not only sadly mistaken, but a lot more off-his-rocker than anyone had ever thought. Not that this Dumbledore knew, Harry reasoned, that one of the Marauders was his parent.

Dumbledore chuckled, and said, “So I suppose you've already met them? They are quite the social bunch, I'm not surprised. They are in their seventh year.”

It was a year above him, and to be honest, Harry couldn't have cared less. “Great. So am I. A Seventh year Gryffindor.” Now, Harry thought, all he had to do was keep up with his classmates and hide his true identity. It should be easy.

Easy and Harry Potter shouldn't be put in the same sentence either.

AN-I'm leaving it there, for now. That's just the prequel. I know it's short, but bear with me. I needed to close it. I'm sick and need to get to bed.

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2. Getting to Know You Again

“So tell us a bit about yourself.” Remus said, after Harry had come back to the dorm room, claiming that he would be sharing it with them for the rest of the year. James and Sirius were sulking, Peter was annoyed, but because he had never really liked the sneaking out they did at night, Remus was quite content with the situation. It would give him more time to figure this boy out.

While he unpacked his things, the boy said, “I'm Harry Potter, seventeen, and in Gryffindor. What more is there to say?”

Undeterred by Harry's tone of voice, Remus said, “James's last name is Potter. Are you two related?”

At this point, James overcame his sulking to study their new dorm mate. “Yeah, I suppose we could be. My family's fairly big, and we do look a lot alike.”

“If I didn't know any better Prongs, I'd say he were your twin. Get rid of the scar and give you green eyes, and you two could trick anyone!” Sirius said, with excitement. “Oh, the possibilities…”

Harry thought the idea sounded amusing, to be honest. He wasn't really up for pranking anyone back home, but then, he had never tried it. Now that he would be staying with the infamous Marauders of Hogwarts, in their last year, he realized he couldn't be the one to hold them down. “Well, it wouldn't be that difficult. I have some friends who…enjoy inventing things. They created candies that can change your hair, your face shape…”

“Your eyes!” Peter said catching on to what everyone else in the room hadn't thought needed to be said.

“Yeah, but what about the scar?” Remus said, frowning faintly. “Where did you get that anyways?” From what he knew about scars, it seemed highly unlikely that someone could get such a perfectly shaped one in a place such as the forehead. This one almost seemed like a curse scar, and it seemed like that was even more likely when Harry replied,

“I don't want to talk about that yet.”

Yes, Harry Potter would make this year interesting.

Panicking, Harry tried to steer the conversation away from anything about himself. “So, you guys like pranks?”

“How'd you know?” Remus asked. Stop being so perceptive, Professor. Harry thought with amusement.

“It just seemed kind of obvious, from how excited you became over the candies.” Remus seemed to accept this answer, and Sirius and James were positively beaming already.

“Love `em.” Sirius replied promptly. For a moment, there was an awkward silence, as each of the boys tried to think of something else to say. Finally, Remus asked, “What's your favorite subject?”

“Trust Moony to ask something about school.” James muttered, but Sirius and he were both smiling.

“Ah…Defense Against the Dark Arts.”

Somehow, this made Remus suspicious. “Why?”

“I'm not a Death Eater, or anything like that, if that's what your thinking. I just have a talent for that particular subject, and a grudge against Dark Magic.” Harry replied. Thinking fast, as to how he could try and shake Remus's suspicion about his scar, Harry added, “It killed my parents.”

There was a shocked silence this time, until James asked, “Dark magic…killed your parents? Sorry, we shouldn't have…”

“It was a long time ago. I didn't really even know them, and you can't really miss someone you've never known.” Harry replied just as easily, shrugging it off. “Better topics…”

“QUIDDITCH!” Sirius said loudly, bouncing from his position on the bed. Harry's mood quickly picked up as he realized that he would be able to play with his father.

“Love it! Were I came from, I was the youngest seeker in a century!” Both boys grinned at him, James saying,

“You'll have to try out!” After a moment of thought, he said under his breath, “You'd have to be good to be put on the team so young… I'll resort to begging if I have to! Please try out! If we have to suffer with me as seeker again…”

“That bad?” Harry asked with mock sincerity, fighting a smile.

“Not at all! I was brilliant, if that's what you're suggesting!” Harry hid his snickering behind a cough at James's hurt pride, but James caught on quickly, and added, “Hey, really! I was awesome, wasn't I?”

“Sure he was.” Remus said, smirking.

“Right…” Sirius said, as Peter said,

“I thought he was good.” Honestly.

“I WAS FINE!” James insisted. “We didn't win a game last season because we were absolutely slaughtered by the other team's chasers. That's just my natural position, they need me there! But I'm captain, and I want to win the cup this time!”

“Relax, Prongs. We've got a chance this year.” Sirius said amused at how enthusiastic James was taking his Quidditch.

“I'm going to try out for seeker this year too!” Peter added, feeling left out. “James was training me all of last year! I think I'm finally ready!”

And now Harry knew that this would be harder than he had thought. Every time his father's friend-who-would-turn-traitor spoke, Harry felt like strangling him. But as Remus was already watching him with too much interest, Harry didn't think that this would be a good way to become friends and throw Remus off of his scent.

Off his scent.... knowing that werewolves had canine senses, he had joked about it like only Snape would. Sometimes Harry marveled at his bad sense of irony. Deciding that this must be his Slytherin side, and wondering if Malfoy thought like that all the time, Harry threw himself onto his bed, the one next to Remus's and continued to talk with the Marauders late into the night.

“This feels weird.” Remus stated after a pause. Harry smiled at how childish he sounded, until he realized that Remus was as much a kid here as he was. Of course Remus would sound like that.

“What feels weird?” Harry asked, wondering if Remus had already figured him out. But there was no way…was there?

“It feels like I'm meeting you again.” `You have no idea' Harry thought in reply, saying aloud,

“I know. I got so used to my old school and friends, and my old school is similar to this one-“ `It would be seeing as it's the same school', “So seeing it without my friends,” `and with my dead father and his dead best friend, not to mention an old professor who happens to be a werewolf and the traitor who ruined my life,' “Is a little strange.”

`I need to control that sarcasm. It won't make me friends with anyone else.' Harry thought, as he and Remus talked about little things. Neither seemed to want to say what they were really thinking, and Harry responded to every question without really thinking, until he realized what direction the questions were going in.

Somehow, Remus had to know what Harry thought about werewolves. When his new roommate had said he'd slept lightly, Remus had joked around by saying that that was a good thing, because he would hear Sirius and James trying to pull one over him, but secretly, he was worried. There was no way they would be able to keep the secret from Harry for long.

“So what do you think about…giants?”

“They can be talked around. We'd get along fine, if wizards would make the effort.”

“Trolls.”

Harry winced, clearly lost in memory. “Ah, I have some bad past experiences with trolls…”

“You've met a troll and lived to tell about it?” Remus asked, impressed. Usually that took a large amount of magic.

“Yeah…In our first year, it was in our school in Halloween. Everyone else was in the dungeons searching for it, but I ended up being in the same room as it, which happened to be a girl's bathroom. It was a fully-grown mountain troll we just got really lucky. My friend hit it on the head with it's own club using the only charm we knew.”

“The levitation one?” Remus asked, amused. “That's pure luck!”

“That's what our professor said when she found us. But we needed good luck, because bad luck had gotten us in the same room in the first place. Besides,” Harry mock-pouted. “you're just jealous of my obvious talent.”

Remus smiled, and said, “Well, we don't have to worry about trolls entering Hogwarts. It's the safest place in England.”

“Believe me,” Harry said, remembering that Hogwarts' safety had been the reason the troll had been let in, “I know.”

“Uh…house elves?”

Harry smiled at the vision of Hermione and her SPEW badges. “My friend had a rather large opinion of them, but they're just other magical creatures who happen to like work and are put to good use, so long as they aren't mistreated.” He frowned, knowing where Remus was going with this questioning. Wanting to get to the point without showing it, Harry asked, “What about you? What do you think about…werewolves?”

Remus visibly paled before saying lightly, “Uh, I don't know…I've never really heard anything other than awful stories…”

Ah, Harry thought, smirking. He wants to see if I'll agree or disagree. Smart. If Remus could only lie a little better, I bet even the Marauders would never have figured him out. “Actually, I used to have a friend who was a werewolf, before I came here. We were really close, and he was so sad all the time. But he'd just lost his best friend of even longer, so that's understandable.”

“Really?” Remus asked, trying to hide hope.

“Yeah. I think people just hear the bad, and refuse to see the good about something they don't understand. If I could transform like that, I'd welcome the change for a night. I think I'd like to be able to forget myself for a while, and I know a lot of other people who wouldn't mind either. That is why most people get drunk, isn't it?”

Remus stared at Harry for a bit, measuring his trust. But if Harry had been expecting Remus to tell his secret so early, he was disappointed, because Remus only replied with “Yeah… I agree.”

A loud and dangerous boom reverberated through the room as the occupants on the other side of the bed were leaning over something. Sirius, James and Peter now had soot-blackened faces and all three sat, gaping at Harry's trunk.

“Ouch.” Harry said for them, smirking and standing up. “Yeah, should've warned you about that. I, um, appreciate my privacy.”

“That's just paranoia, mate.” Sirius said in awe, cautiously standing and arching his back in a stretch, all the while watching the trunk. “You're worse than some Aurors I've seen, and believe me a few of them are really bad. Who did you get to put that charm on your trunk?”

“Dumbledore.” Harry said casually, intentionally failing to mention that if you asked the Dumbledore of this time, he wouldn't have an idea of what spell it was. This spell was a little too complex for the Dumbledore of this time period.

“Have anything to do with the war?” Remus asked, and Harry mentally cursed. This conversation wasn't going the way he wanted it to.

“Yeah. That's how my parents were killed. They were one of the first ones dead as a result of Dark Magic, and it was because a traitor, who they thought to be their best friend, gave away their location. I guess I'm a little slow to trust.”

“Good thing too!” James chirped, glowing.

“Because you're sleeping in the same dorm as the infamous Marauders, and trusting us to not prank you could be dangerous.” Sirius finished, showing Harry a smile identical to James'.

As they laughed through the rest of the night, drinking bottles of butterbeer (Harry realized he'd really taken advantage of the drink, and was making up for all of the time he'd been forbidden to go to Hogsmeade to retrieve some,) they eventually fell asleep, all piled somewhere on a single bed, exhausted but happy.

But at some point in the night, Peter Pettigrew was pushed onto the floor in his sleep, where he woke up the next morning, feeling more left out than he had since his first year at Hogwarts. He was tempted, but in the end, he didn't wake the new kid up too early for any human to be comfortable. He let him sleep. With any luck Harry Potter would sleep in too late.

James was the next to wake up that morning. Still groggy, he turned to see that Peter had disappeared, which was odd, as Peter was usually the last one awake, and had be dragged out of bed, only finally letting them win because of how hungry he would become.

Next he took the time to study the very amusing scene before him. Harry, who looked just like him, was sleeping curled up against the headboard, looking almost afraid and a little protective. Remus was lying like most normal humans do, only being different by stretching his arms out. (James couldn't resist and had to poke him in the armpit, which, as always, made him slap Sirius in the face.)

But Sirius had to have been the most comical. His limbs were so spread apart and angled so odd, James had to wonder how his friend had managed to stay on the bed. His mouth was open wide, and his tongue was lolling out, as a snore escaped him. James was pretty sure even a volcano couldn't have awoken Sirius from his state of hibernation at the moment.

At that moment, Harry shifted and his bangs hid his lightning bolt scar, and James couldn't help but notice for the second time how alike he and this boy were in appearance, if they were alike in nothing else. Before Harry could shift and ruin his chance, James grabbed the camera and took a picture, smiling at it with affection before turning to wake the others up.

The poor remaining two Marauders, despite sleeping in the same quarters for six years, were too slow. Moony and Padfoot seemed too tired to do anything, let alone to wake up, so neither boys were prepared for the large tub of cold water about to be dumped on their heads.

Harry, however, rolled off the bed just beforehand, and James realized that he hadn't been joking the night before; he really did sleep on needles.

Unfortunately for Harry, there are hangings on the sides of the bed, and landing with you legs still up in the air tangled in the sheets and hangings of a bed with two other boys in it scrambling to catch the boy who had gotten them soaked wasn't a pleasant experience.

“PRONGS!”

With great care, James set the picture on his nightstand, (planning to use it as Blackmail, on his best friend for his appearance while asleep,) and ran for his life and dignity.

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3. Stealing Peter's Place

Poor Professor McGonagall never stood a chance. They had spent all day planning it, walking around talking about it and passing notes around during class about it, working out every little kink, so that even their beloved Minnie, (Only Sirius could call her that and avoid a detention, and he was never given one for calling her Minnie because she knew he wouldn't care if he had one, and it would mean more time spent with Sirius Black.) wouldn't be able to undo the jinxes put on the two look-alikes.

So when the Marauders and the new guy walked in, everyone knew something would go dreadfully wrong at some point during her classes. They didn't have to wait too long. “Harry Potter?”

“Here!”

“You're not Harry Potter, I am!”

These two comments were said in unison by both boys, leaving everyone else in confusion, before both boys turned McGonagall, yelling, “PROFESSOR!”

Sighing, and knowing that she should have seen it coming, McGonagall took a breath to regain her calm air before saying, “ Alright, which one of you is James Potter?”

“I AM!”

“But both of you just said you were Harry Potter.” A small redhead in the back pointed out logically.

Smiling his most charming smile, James replied with, “Because we are.”

But Harry was stuck staring after he did a double take, seeing the girl in so many of the photos he had in his trunk. Lily Evans.

He had been expecting all of the Marauders after he had seen his dad. He had even been able to expect Wormtail, as much as he hated him. But the sight of her alive and annoyed hit him hard, pushing the air out of his lungs. Regaining his voice when Sirius elbowed him, Harry added with a smile, “But if you can guess which one of us is who, we'll change back.”

Before McGonagall and Lily could protest, half of the class was leaning forward and shouting guesses. Rolling her eyes, Lily said, “Honestly, James Potter, will you ever grow up! You're so immature!”

James went on to look hurt, but Harry defended both of them, saying, “Yes, but this prank isn't hurting anyone. And you have to admit it's fun! Come on, Lily, you hate James Potter enough to know who he is and how he acts, right?” Harry taunted. He couldn't help but notice how frustrated she was, and at the moment could see what Remus had meant during one of the stories he had heard about his parents. James had enjoyed annoying Lily to some degree because as long as she wasn't lethal, Lily Evans was very fun to annoy.

Rolling her eyes, Lily hesitated for a moment, and then, hesitantly, leaned forward, squinting and brushing her hair out of her eyes, trying to notice any differences between the two. James couldn't help but whoop in success and Harry rewarded Lily with a smile brighter than the Marauders had gotten from him yet that she hesitantly returned.

By the end of class no one had figured out who was who because James and Harry kept switching seats, meaning that as soon as the class thought they had them, the two boys preformed a charm to change the seating. Walking out into the hallway, Sirius slung his arms theatrically over one of the twin-like boys shoulders, saying, “That was great, Prongs.”

“Sirius?”

“Hum?”

“I'm Harry.”

Remus and Peter were already pretty far behind them, standing in the hallway laughing. James kept walking with them as Sirius removed his arm from Harry's shoulders, grinning at his own mistake, and James tried to laugh too, but the smile didn't reach his eyes.

How could his own best mate not know the difference? He and Harry walked differently, and talked differently, Harry using longer and more thought-out words, and James spoke simply to continue the noise.

But he didn't have anything to worry about, right? Harry was different from him. James was an individual, and it wasn't like this new member of the Marauders would be kicking the old one out.

So why did he feel so weird and left out, as Sirius talked to Harry, who was walking where James normally did on his right? And why had Lily Evans smiled at Harry when she never smiled at him, and yet at the time they had looked exactly alike?

Peter was having similar feelings towards Harry Potter, though he wouldn't admit it. This boy, who looked an awful lot like James with prettier eyes, had more secrets but wasn't taking Peter's place among his friends, because the others weren't laughing at Harry. There was nothing to laugh at.

If anything, in fact, the boy kept them grounded a little, helping Remus see any errors in the plans, helping James think up appropriate places and victims, and helping Sirius to plot in the first place.

If Peter hadn't had a place among his friends before, he really didn't now. And that scared him.

But that was all right. Because everyone knows that to be friends, you had to be on your friend's team, and Quidditch try-outs, which Peter had been preparing for, were being held tonight. There was no way he would let the new kid steal anything more from him, besides his friends and place. He couldn't steal Peter's ability to play Quidditch. Not when he'd worked all year to get so good.

“Hey Harry, you going to try out tonight?” Sirius asked, staring when Harry frowned, considering. Well, what did he have to lose?

“Sure.”

Harry's mind was racing, as he quickly walked up to the dorms to take out his Firebolt. How would he explain to James and Sirius about his broom…there had to be something he could say to avoid questioning…

Of course.

“Yeah, it's a prototype. My godfather” who's standing right in front of me years younger, “got it for me before…”

But Harry couldn't say anything about Sirius, not while Sirius was standing so nearby. The loss of his godfather hadn't hurt nearly as bad as usual when a semi-version of his godfather had been with him since he had been thrown through time and space, and bringing it up now would only cause the pain and self-pity, two emotions he loathed, to surface. “Before I left for here.”

“Will you be seeing him soon?”

“He's dead.” Harry stated blandly despite his determination not to mention it. Already he was scaring his friend's away by telling them how many people close to him had died in his life, but he had to knowing what Sirius was getting at. “That's why I'm here. He's dead and he can't get you a broom like this one.”

While Harry was thinking about how good it felt it finally just admit his godfather's death to himself, allowing the bittersweet feeling to surround him, Sirius said, “Sorry…shouldn't have asked.”

“Yeah, well, I'm kind of used to it. At least you don't pity me. I seem to run through the father-figures…” Harry shifted, unsure of what to say. Sirius, James, the rest of the team, Peter, and three other boys trying out for the seeker position were staring at him in silence. “Well, I'm not the captain. James, what do we do?”

“Oh, right…” For a moment, James had the impression Harry had been talking to Sirius more than anyone else, but then Sirius had asked the question, so it only made sense that Harry would be answering him. Clapping his hands to capture the attention of the others, and trying to take the attention off of poor Harry, James shouted, “Come on. Up in the air, let's see what you lot can do.”

Smiling, everyone flew up, as James began.

“The point of the seeker is to catch the snitch, but there's a lot more involved in it than the end of the game and those hundred fifty points. There's always dodging, like a keeper, and catching, like a chaser, and watching more than one thing at a time, like a Beater. Therefore, the seeker needs to be able to do more than see the snitch. You need to be able to chase it, and catch it. We're going to try a few exercises, okay?”

As he said all of this, James had taken out a wooden bow from a few feet below them, and at the last few words he had tossed the quaffle to Sirius, who had expected it and caught it with ease.

Everyone did exceptional with the chaser exercises, and Harry did great at hitting the bludger, deciding that if he hadn't been given the seeker position, he could've been a beater as well. While there were no exercises for keeper, there were many dodging exercises, and eventually, James had limited it to Harry, Peter and Louis Pearson, a third year.

While Harry knew he could see the snitch when James released it, he studied his opponents. Peter, it seemed, had been taught to see it, so he saw glints of it, and caught images of it when it hovered for only a moment before disappearing, but Louis had the abilities of a Beater or Keeper. He wouldn't be any competition.

Deciding not to show off when it wasn't necessary, and not to embarrass Peter, Harry lazily made his way around the pitch, scanning for the snitch through all of the other players, who seemed to be practicing, but were really creating quite the little diversion.

And suddenly he saw a streamline of gold shoot past him, heading downwards. Just behind the gold was Peter, diving for the snitch.

Surprised that the other boy could dive so well, but determined to be able to play next to his father, Harry fell into the dive as well, confident that he could beat the traitor to the golden ball.

But just as they were level, and Peter had his hand outstretched, about to seize Harry's only chance of playing with his father, the snitch so close increased in speed and flew straight up, disappearing again.

Breathing a sigh of relief, Harry silently vowed not to underestimate any of his opponents ever again, past, (or present, as it were,) or future. Slowly, he flew upwards to resume search, while the rest of the team watched him fly in awe.

Peter had been training hard for forever, and had been struggling just a moment ago to catch the snitch. Harry seemed to naturally fall into a dive, and to him and the rest of the team was completely at ease and a natural in the air. From there on, everyone knew, there was no competition. Harry had won.

But Harry's head-on dive after the snitch had everyone watching him again, as Peter hung back, wanting to be the one to catch it but unable to go straight down like that without falling over his broom head-first.

Harry couldn't contain his whoop of excitement as his held up his prize.

“So we know who's on the team, right?” James asked later, as they all toweled off, the dust finally gone from their hair and eyes.

Peter watched as Harry grinned uncontrollably, and wondered if this new boy knew that he had just ruined Peter's only chance at finding somewhere to belong. And as Peter heard Sirius say something to Harry about him being born a natural in the air, and how it seemed be belonged better up in the air than on the ground, Peter wondered if there was anywhere he would be able to fit in.

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4. The Greatest Form of Flattery

NEWT's, Harry discovered quickly, changed everything quite dramatically, and he had to be grateful that he had Remus in most of his classes, because his future professor acted much like Hermione did, (though Harry knew that no one could ever replace Hermione), reminding him of his homework and helping him keep up.

So it wasn't the classes that he did have Remus in that troubled him…it was the ones that he didn't, though not for the reasons you would think.

No, Harry had no problem with the homework, because it seemed that Hogwarts had been forcing them to study more for the OWL's in his time than they made the students of this time study for their NEWT's. Because most of the spells were so easy, Harry really didn't have a problem mastering them quickly.

Harry's problem was that Lily Evans seemed to have taken him under her wing, and James didn't like it one bit.

It didn't seem that Lily liked Harry as anything more than a friend, for which Harry thanked every god he had ever known. Lily acted a lot like a mother should, making sure he ate enough, (you're too skinny, it's like they didn't feed you wherever you came from,) slept enough, (did you go to bed early enough last night? Because you look horrible,) finished his homework…it was comforting for Harry, to have Lily there to act a lot like a concerned parent would, and another reminder of Hermione…

But he had never though of Hermione like a parent. She had always been a friend…wait, wasn't she more than a friend? No, not in that way, because he didn't look at Ron that way, but they had been through so much, didn't she deserve to be different? Yeah, it was just because of how much they had been through…he didn't look at Hermione like that!

But thinking about Hermione, Ron, and everything else about the present reminded Harry of home, and how he could get back there…

Did he even want to go back there?

It was as he was asking himself this that Lily, who had been speaking to him the entire time, (it had all gone through his left ear, and out his right,) broke away from him to get to another one of her classes, and Sirius stepped up, a concerned look on his face.

“Harry, mate? You okay?”

Harry and Sirius had become extremely close ever since his arrival, and at this point, Sirius could read Harry as easily as a book, (“HEY! I can too read, James!” he had replied, when he had used this same metaphor in front of the group.) So it was pretty much useless for Harry to deny that something was bothering him.

And he didn't have much to tell. Every time Harry brought up his family, Sirius shut up, not knowing how to handle someone in grief, and changed the topic. As amusing as Harry had found it, the pity was getting old.

“Not really. Is James mad at me for something?” Harry replied instead, not expecting Sirius to answer with,

“Well, yeah. I mean, Lily's never so much as looked his way, has she, and he's liked her for years. Now, she's with you as much as you're with us.”

It took a moment for Harry to think enough to reply, “But it isn't like that between us…its just family affection. Really. I mean…”

“I know…” Sirius murmured, and Harry knew why he was all of a sudden uncomfortable. If forced to pick sides, Sirius would have to follow his best friend, whether he agreed with him or not. It was like a code they had, and stuck to.

Not wanting to think about it anymore, Harry switched topics. This one, he knew, would catch Sirius's attention. “So, what's been up with Remus today?”

“What about him?” Sirius asked, trying to seem nonchalant. How could Harry have already picked up on the changes Remus was going through? It was still three days till full moon, and Remus wasn't usually bad until the day beforehand. Aside from the pale skin, which Remus nearly always had, he had looked and acted as normal as possible, even if he had been a little on edge.

“He's just acting a little…strange, don't you think?” Harry responded. “I mean, it's like he's going though something tough right now, and I'm worried. Is he angry at me for something too?”

Sirius bit the inside if his cheek in frustration, trying to think everything through. He had been the one in the group that had wanted to tell Harry everything, the whole truth, but he had been the only one. Remus had insisted that he was keeping something from them, James had clearly been jealous, and Peter had simply said, “I don't like him,” so they had agreed not to mention Remus being a werewolf, even after Harry had admitted to befriending one before.

But Harry was picking up on it so quickly; they may not have a choice.

“Nah, he's just very stressed out right now. Has been all year, actually. I think it's because of NEWT's.” He replied instead, promising that he would talk to Remus later. Harry was worried. He had a right to know what was wrong with his friend.

But while Sirius was unconsciously making excuses, inside he knew the truth, and he admitted it to himself a moment later. He wanted to be best friends with Harry. He wanted to protect Harry, and help Harry, and comfort Harry, but was afraid to make a mistake about it. And as he thought about it, he realized that what he was doing, or wanted to do, was almost like how Lily acted, if not stronger. He wanted to help the new boy out.

Harry almost laughed as he watched Sirius's reaction to his simple question, but his mood quickly darkened as he thought about the last comment. If James were mad at him over Lily, he'd have to do something about it. He only had so much time to befriend his father; he wasn't going to waste it fighting with him.

Waving at Sirius, who was meeting Peter for dinner, (“you need to come soon, too! If you don't eat more…) Harry headed up the stairs to the dorm rooms, confident that James and Remus were up there.

He hesitated only enough to hear James say, “Are you sure you're feeling alright? You don't normally go through it this early, it usually doesn't happen until-“

“I'm fine, Prongs.” Remus replied, sounding like he was too tired to snap at his friend. “I'll meet you after dinner for a trip to the kitchens if I'm hungry then. I'm just not now, you know how that is.”

“Yeah, okay.”

Harry, knowing that the conversation was about Remus and his transformations, also knew from Remus's tone of voice that conversation was over, and walked in, aware of the two pairs of eyes watching his every move. Grinning, he removed the charms from around his trunk one by one, making it take as long as possible, and finally pulling a book he had been reading before he had come a few weeks ago. Looking up as he redid all of the charms, he asked, “You ever get that feeling you're being watched?”

James smirked, saying, “Well, sorry about watching you like that, but I don't think I will ever lose amusement by watching you and your paranoia. Besides, with charms like that on your trunk, you must have that feeling of being watched all the time.”

Remus just shook his head, but obviously noticed the tension in the atmosphere around him, and murmured, “I'm going to get some air while I'm allowed to,” before walking away.

Meanwhile, James stood, unsure of Harry, or what he was planning. The calculating look on his face said that he was thinking about how to approach the situation without James blowing up, until he seemed to simply lose any patience in asking the question and simply asked, “Are you mad at me?”

Swallowing his real reply, James said, “No.”

“Is it because of Sirius? Because he's still your best friend. If you asked him, he'd side without thinking.”

James wanted to say something like, “He shouldn't have to think, he's supposed to be my best friend without debate,” but instead what came out was, “No, it's not Sirius.”

“Is it about how I look? Because, it's not my fault that I look like you.”

“No. It's not that.”

“Is it about Lily?”

Swallowing harder, James grounded out, “no, it's not that.”

Harry growled in frustration, asking, “Then what is it that has you so ticked off? Because you've been acting different to me for a while now.”

James hadn't wanted to blow up at Harry. He wasn't sure what his emotions towards the boy were, but he hadn't wanted to hurt him, or make him angry with him…it wasn't pity, because Harry was a strong individual. It wasn't jealousy, because he had always been comfortable with himself and the way he was. It was more of a need to comfort his new friend, to protect him and worry about him.

But this last question, and the hurt and anger behind it, made him reply with, “It's all of it, okay? It isn't enough that you stole my best friend, or that you stole my identity, or that you stole my girl. It's just, I was laying in bed last night thinking, and I realized that you have everything I want at the moment. Freedom, and Lily, and Sirius, and reason, Lily, and teachers liking you, and knowledge, and Lily, and the whole school already likes you, and somehow it's like you stole everything good about me, and changed the bad. And it's just frustrating, because everything I've already worked for, you already have.”

Harry just sat there silently, letting James let it all out, and listened to every word. When the rant, which had continued, finally did die down, Harry looked up at his frustrated friend, still silent.

“Thanks.” James muttered, head down and feeling sheepish. Harry had taken the attack so calmly that at the moment he felt like an idiot.

“No problem. I'm not here to take Lily. I'm not here to take Sirius. And I'm not here to replace you, or anyone else. I'm not even here for long, I'll have to leave again soon.” Harry replied, knowing that at some point, he would have to leave the past behind him. “But if it helps, they say that imitation is the greatest form of flattery.”

Grinning, James replied, “It helps.” Looking down at Harry, and deciding to ask him about where he was leaving to later, he said, “So, dinner?”

“I think it's over. Dessert should be starting soon though.” Harry replied, grinning. James, smirking, opened the door and let Harry out before him, then closed it on the dorm along with all the bitterness and envy he had felt towards Harry.

But as they walked down together, both of them knew that while they were friends, they weren't anywhere near as trusting as they would like to be. The knowledge of the secrets they were keeping from Harry was slowly eating at James with guilt, and while Harry didn't show that he knew about Remus and his condition, inside the feelings of hurt were eating him up too. What would he have to do to get the four friends to trust him?

Sirius smiled in welcome as they approached the table, sending a questioning look to James, while Harry replied without needing to be asked, “Remus went on a walk.”

Nodding, Sirius turned back to his food. So Remus was going through it early this month, he thought. That would explain why Harry had so easily caught on. Combine that with the knowledge that came with a werewolf as a best friend, and Harry was bound to figure it all out soon. He may not know what Sirius, Peter, and James were doing out of bed, but piecing it all together about Remus wouldn't be difficult.

What would they tell Harry in two days time? Surely, Peter thought, they wouldn't bring him with them. He couldn't transform, couldn't run with them. He would only be a distraction, another person to watch out for, and another person to get in the way. Besides, some things, Peter decided, needed to be kept a secret. That was the point of the Marauders. Everyone may know who they are, but how they do what they do, why they are called what they're called, and where they disappeared to once a month was a mystery. How they moved about the school unseen was even bigger of a mystery, and Peter knew that James, Remus, and Sirius would never give their secrets, the ones they'd been protecting for years, away to someone who was as good as a stranger.

But he frowned as James sat next to Harry, rather then between him and Sirius where he usually sat. Sirius, who was into a deck of cards spread meticulously around him, wouldn't have been great company for James anyways, but the last time they had been able to talk without Harry there, during one of the classes he hadn't had with Peter, James, and Sirius, James had been angry rightfully about how the new boy had stolen his identity. How could two people who were supposed to be strangers, or even at odds, be acting so friendly?

AN-HEY! GUYS! WANNA NOTHER CHAPTER? I can give you another one this weekend, tomorrow, in fact, for 9 reviews! And this chapter happens to be a little discussion between Sirius and Harry. Remus is transforming, what will they tell Harry, and how will Harry handle it? HEHE! It's all pre-written, so you don't have to worry about me ignoring you! HEHE! REVIEW!

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5. A Sirius Discussion

THANK YOU REVIEWERS; HERE'S TO YOU!

As the two days between Remus's transformation passed, his condition worsened, and at one point he had to be hospitalized before the transformation, something that had never happened before. Harry knew it was his fault, because changes in time, even tweaks, would leave the lunar schedule all messed up, and so spent a lot of his time visiting the bedridden werewolf, worried about how pale he had become.

It was on one such visit that James pulled Harry aside, saying, “Harry? Come here for a second.”

Heart pounding, Harry walked over to his younger father, but the words James said weren't the ones he had wanted to hear. Instead of explaining the truth, he whispered, “I think Remus has to be taken out of Hogwarts to be cured. I'm sure after St. Mungos is finished healing him, he'll be good as new, but he'll be gone tonight. We're planning on going with him. Sorry, but only the three of us can go, and-“

“It's all right,” Harry responded quickly, covering his hurt just barely. “I had plans tonight with Lily anyways.” At the look James gave him, Harry shook his head and relied, “No, nothing like that. She's just helping me out with a complex potion. It's fine, I hope Remus's well soon. See you tomorrow.” And left.

And as Sirius watched him leave through the swinging doors, he knew what James didn't; while James and Peter were high-fiving their success at keeping Harry from suspecting them while not getting him hurt, he knew it wouldn't do to leave Harry on these terms. He was obviously hurt and hiding it, and leaving him alone on a night like this didn't feel right.

Especially since Lily tutored every Wednesday night, and there was no way she was tutoring Harry, who was nearly smarter than Remus.

“Padfoot?” James asked in question, as he looked at Sirius's face, the smile slowly turning into a concerned frown.

“Huh?” When he realized that Remus, James, and Peter were staring at him in confusion and concern, he continued to say, “Oh, right. You guys go ahead, I have a few things to finish up. I'll be there later on.”

“Sirius-“ James began scolding, but Remus cut him off with,

“I understand. You go finish things up, we'll see you later.” His words were a clear indicator that he knew what Sirius was going to do, and was encouraging him to do so. Sighing, Sirius left his friends, who were arguing and scolding Remus for letting Sirius get away with skipping out on him, and tried instead to concentrate on everything he needed to know.

He wasn't sure what he would say when he found Harry, because he had never been good with words or emotions, but finding him would feel better than losing him. And Sirius was pretty sure that if he let Harry walk away hurt like he was, and feeling alone, Harry would become cold, and closed off to them like he had been when he had first come.

Finding Harry wasn't that difficult, to his surprise. He simply went to wherever Remus went when he needed to think undisturbed, (though because Sirius knew where this was, he could no longer sit there undisturbed,) the bridge. It overlooked a lot of the grounds, and was always hushed up and silent. (Unless Sirius wanted to get Remus out of his melancholy mood, in which case the hall became incredibly loud.) The perfect place to think.

But unless you'd been to Hogwarts for a while, you wouldn't know how to get there.

This left Sirius wondering how Harry knew exactly how to get to this bridge. Obvious places to think, like the lake, grounds, common room, would've been understandable. They were easy to find. But how had he found his way here, and so quickly?

And then Sirius wondered why he had checked here for Harry first, even though Harry probably wouldn't have known his way here and Sirius hadn't went here in forever. This place hadn't even crossed his mind…

“Hi Sirius,” a quiet voice said. Raising an eyebrow, Sirius replied,

“Hey, Harry. How did you know it was me?”

“You walk too loudly. I don't think you could go more than a few moments with silence.” That was true enough. The walkway walls echoed, and his footsteps were heavy. It stood to reason that it was him.

“But how did you find this place?” He asked, watching his friend's face carefully for any reaction.

“I dunno. I walked, and this is where I ended up.” Harry replied, carefully keeping his face blank. He had only been here once, in his third year, when Lupin, (from his own time,) had shown him this stop to talk in. (I know that this isn't in the book, but it's in the movie. You know, the part when Lupin says, “you're more like them than you know”. Work with me here.) He had said that no one ever came here, so they couldn't be disturbed. Of course, he had also said that only his best friends had ever found him while hiding here. Why hadn't he realized that Sirius would know how to get here?

“But that doesn't make sense.” Sirius argued, startling him out of his musings. “I mean, if you've never been here, you wouldn't know how to get here…and how would you have gotten back?”

“Well…” thinking back, he remembered his godfather once saying to him, `I swear, those walls have ears. There's no other way we could've gotten caught during half of our pranks. That castle has a mind of it's own.' “A friend who went here once told me that this castle has a mind of it's own.”

“Not possible.” Sirius argued. “I mean, the walls only act the way they do because of enchantments put on them forever ago.”

“Explain the staircases.”

“More charms.”

“And the Room of Requirement?”

“The what?” and Harry was brutally reminded that the man he was talking to, standing next to him bickering like a longtime friend, wasn't his godfather. This man wouldn't be his godfather for a while.

“Nothing.”

Sirius could tell that this room Harry had mentioned was something to check into, (just the name gave that away,) but he wouldn't push it now. Harry's mood seemed to have darkened even more, and they weren't there to talk about any magic in a room. If Hogwarts did have a mind of it's own, it probably had eyes too. He wasn't about to mess up.

And if he wasn't going to mess up, he wasn't going to talk. Not until he had to, and was sure of what he was going to say.

The sun began to set, and Sirius realized that nearly an hour had gone by since he had left to look for Harry, and still neither of them had said anything. The cold was making his nose and cheeks burn, and Remus would be transforming soon, but it still didn't feel right leaving. If he didn't hurry, they'd see Remus being led out to the willow, and Harry would be hurting worse because of that story. He'd know, then that it wasn't true.

Finally, Sirius just out and asked, “Harry, what's wrong?”

Harry was about to reply what he always had, but found that he couldn't. The words couldn't make it passed the lump in his throat as he stared at the place the whole event that led up to meeting Sirius three years ago; the Whomping Willow.

“You just remind me of someone, that's all. I keep forgetting that you aren't him, and every time I realize that you aren't him, I remember that he's dead…I came here to try and get past all of that, by coming to find him.”

“But you just said that he was dead.”

“I mean find his memory.” Harry corrected, cursing himself. “I need to be able to move on. But so much has happened to me lately…I feel like I don't have time to mourn. In the time that I do have to mourn, I can't. I can't even get over the fact that he's dead, so getting over him is a bit of a problem.”

Sirius frowned. He had never lost someone before, so he couldn't relate, but what Harry had said hadn't sounded right to him. “Well, who ever said you had to give him up, or let him go?”

“He's gone.” Harry replied, bleakly.

“Well, yes, but letting go of him…I mean, isn't that a bit harsh? You can hold on to his memory, right?”

“What?”

Sirius couldn't blame him for asking. That hadn't even made sense to him. “I just mean that you going after him, or his memory, or whatever it is you're trying to find, isn't probably that way to go about it. I mean, he probably doesn't want you moping over him, all cold and mistrusting like you are. And mulling over him, and how great he was, and how you could've helped him, isn't going to help you, or him if he cared about you.”

“You think?” Harry asked, surprised that Sirius could come up with this so suddenly.

“Yeah. I mean, I know I'm a goof, but people seem to think that makes me emotionless. But I feel guilty all the time. I doubt myself a lot, and I do get depressed, even if it's only until I see James and the two of us wreck havoc again. So I know if I were to die, and you went to look for me, I'd feel guilty up in heaven about holding you back, and leaving you like I did.” Sirius now knew that all of those books he had read as a child, the ones his mother had said were going to taint his mind, were more than just adventure. It was probably a good thing that he hadn't skipped over all of the `mushy' talks between the characters.

But what he was saying was one hundred-percent true.

“Huh.”

“Bet you hadn't thought about it that way, huh?”

“Nope. I hadn't. So where did that talk come from?” Harry asked, feeling lighter than he had in months.

Sighing, Sirius said in mock depression, “See, everyone always assumes that I have no emotions,” throwing his hands up to show that he gave up.

Grinning, Harry watched as the sun set with Sirius, in silence, and then both he and Sirius headed back inside, Sirius saying that he had to go try to help Remus, with the rest of the Marauders. Harry let him leave, knowing where he was going, but feeling a lot better about it. For the first time, he was at peace with his godfather and his death. Maybe tonight he would be able to dream about something other than a wind-blown veil. Like Hermione…

Where had that thought come from?

Trying to push the funny feeling in his stomach away, Harry turned his thoughts back to Remus, Sirius, James and Peter as he heard a loud howl that seemed to echo through the halls. He'd let them continue this tradition without him. And they would tell him when they were ready.

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6. The Value of Words

From the deepest, darkest depths of my heart I thank yekwah, who searches my stories for my grievous errors and faux passes against grammar everywhere by betaing my stories for me! I also especially thank padfootsgrl for doing that very same thing for this chapter, so that I could put the story out to you as quickly as possible with few errors. (And with betas like this, no errors.) padfootsgrl edited this chapter, and both will edit future chapters, if they are still the incredibly smart, funny, kindhearted young women they seem to be! ;) Both will edit future chapters. Az u cann c, i reely need it!

That night was an uneventful one, where the Marauders simply wasted hours by rampaging through the Forbidden Forest. Sirius had come, but been too late for them to travel farther up some of the mountains, so their planned search for the caves and crevasses had been postponed.

Exhausted and dirty, the four friends each fell into their beds, three of them falling asleep right away.

One, however, did not.

Sirius couldn't help replaying the conversation that had taken place earlier in his head. He couldn't forget the look of intense pain and sadness on Harry's face. Couldn't help remembering the dull edge of Harry's tone, the glazed look in his eyes. What had those eyes seen that had made them so…devastated?

And as he was thinking all of this over, (he had too much adrenaline in his system to actually sleep,) he heard muted cries from Harry's bed…but Harry should've fallen asleep a long time ago, right? He tried to block it out, not wanting another heart-to-heart with Harry because of the awkward emotions involved, until he heard his name.

“Sirius, no!”

Harry knew, as soon as he saw his parents standing there, that he was dreaming again. It was remembering, rather, because he was watching his parents on the last night they had been alive.

His nightmares of Sirius falling through a veil must have been replaced, he supposed, by the realization that he could've changed things, and still could. He could warn them. There was still time.

Now his father was fighting Voldemort. Now his mother was running, and tripping over her skirt. Pleading for her son's life. Dead.

And now was the one other thing he needed changed. The one other thing that could've fixed his life, made it a little easier. Sirius.

He watched as Sirius walked among the rubble, his face crumbling at James's body. He watched his godfather carefully put the pieces of his father's wand by his body. He tried to comfort him as he mourned over Lily, only to have himself ignored. Watched as Sirius picked a baby up from the ruins of the house, and nearly screamed in frustration as Sirius finally carefully handed the baby over and picked up his motorcycle helmet, handing it equally as carefully to Hagrid.

He watched in anger as Sirius disappeared, shouting as loud as he could. Sirius didn't hear him, but he had to say it anyways, to know that he tried.

“Sirius, DON'T GO AFTER PETER!”

It was a lot like Harry was having a prophecy, a vision Sirius thought. The whispered words were too clear, too direct, to be from any nightmare. Harry settled down after he had murmured the warning, shaking but gradually drifting off to sleep.

And Sirius decided, before he slept, that he would take that advice and refrain from going after Peter.

Several days passed, and amazingly, few things changed. In fact, other than a few major pranks, no one was offended, hurt physically, or put into near-death predicaments.

Harry began spending more and more time with Lily, studying and just talking, getting to know her better. He always heard about his dad, and how wonderful his dad was, but his dad reminded him a lot of Ron. A loyal friend, but a little jealous, a bright student, but unwilling to learn. In fact Sirius reminded his of himself, reining James in all the time, as he often had to rein in Ron, and Remus reminded him of Hermione… a little bit. There was no Peter in his group, so he didn't have to worry. It was the only thing that kept him from feeling alone every once in a while, but it was also a danger. He couldn't trust the Marauders to keep his secret, and couldn't risk changing time. He wasn't home, and he needed to remember not to get too comfortable here.

It was difficult though, with everything that was happening. It seemed that while the muggle word had changed quite a bit through time, Hogwarts and it's behavior was always the same. His parent's generation, if anything, was more lucid, and easier to get along with, then his own. No one paid him much attention here, and that was just fine with him. Here was safe.

And the Marauders lived in a way he and his friends had forgotten since their first year. Even then he, Hermione, and Ron had been worrying over what was under the trap door, then wondering how to protect it, and who was after it. The late night discussions had been over the dangers to the school.

If the Marauders had a late night discussion, it was about girls, or Quidditch, or even things as trivial as food. It was like the Marauders had no worries, and no sense of time. Nothing was too rushed, and no boundaries were set to hold them in.

Harry could also see why Severus Snape had never like his father and Sirius. Humiliation was always at the hands of the Marauders, but instead of spreading it generally to the school, they focused it on one Severus Snape.

And pairing James and Snape for potions? A disaster.

“It's simple, Potter, something even you can handle. All you have to do is watch me fix the potion.” Snape's oily voice said. Harry looked up at the same time Sirius did, shooting his friend a look to keep him from doing anything stupid. Obeying, Sirius listened.

“Sorry, no can do, Snivellus. My grade depends on my participation, so participate I will.” James replied, annoyed. Couldn't Snape find some other way to bother him? “I'm cutting the bat wings.”

“What, and risk human fingers in our potion? I'll cut the bat wings.” Snape replied. He stopped putting ingredients in when Potter replied with,

“Why Snivellus, you don't have wings, how ever did they manage to find such a big bat?”

He knew that he was knocking over several key ingredients in doing it, but it was worth it to see Potter struggle to breathe. He may not be wonderful at cursing, but he had a grip that could kill.

Sirius said several fowl words and stood, knocking over his stool, and Harry didn't stop him. James hadn't thrown the first punch, so this was in defense.

Sirius tried to levitate Snape off of James, but his grip stayed strong, and instead, James found himself hanging by his neck in the air, feet a few inches off of the ground. Harry silently preformed an advanced charm from the DA, praying that no one would notice with all of the screaming girls watching Hogwarts heartthrob hanging by his neck. The energy he had zapped into Snape made the boy drop James, and James took the opportunity to scramble to his feet and cast a charm on his attacker. The charm must have worked, because Snape went flying upward, and was hanging off of an ingredients hook on the wall, with garlic hanging behind him, by his underwear.

But James wasn't wiling to stop there. Noticing that his father was about to do something he'd regret, especially since Lily was watching, Harry gripped James's shoulder, saying, “Ignore him. He's just as you said, an over-grown bat.”

“So I'll make him into one.” James replied simply, putting his wand arm out, but Harry gripped his wrist and pulled the hand down.

“No. Don't waste your time.”

James gave him and incredulous look, and finally said, “I know you've had a rough life, but don't you have any fun?”

Sirius watched the exchange carefully as Harry said, “Loads. I have Quidditch, the occasional good prank, and midnight excursions, usually to the kitchens, remember? But I don't have to pick on people to enjoy myself.”

“But he nearly killed me!” James replied, starting to get angry.

“I know that, and he'll be punished by the headmaster. But you've already gotten him. He's up there, and embarrassed, and you've gotten him off of you. It'd be wrong to pick on him now.”

“Why?” Peter asked, from behind James's elbow.

“Because, he's already defenseless. He doesn't have his wand, his feet aren't on the floor, and the slightest move is really going to hurt.”

“Yeah, but that's just it.” James said, as though explaining it to a child. “It's an easy way to get him back. He can't get to us, and we can't get in trouble, because we were just defending ourselves.”

“James, you've defended yourself. You've done a through job of it, and there's nothing wrong with what you just did.” Remus said, stepping up. Harry smiled gratefully at him, and continued for Remus, saying,

“But if you attack him now, you'd be worse than him. It'd be like a Death Eater attacking a muggle. They can't defend themselves.”

Slowly, looking at Harry and Remus, James lowered his wand. Silently Sirius applauded, suddenly seeing Harry's reasoning, and realizing that this was the reason Remus never had continued with them past the defense point.

“I don't believe this.” He heard Peter say. “Are you really going to worship everything he says?”

“He's right, though, Peter.” Remus pointed out.

“But Sirius and James have always done this! It's something that doesn't change. Harry's seen us do this before!”

“Not to this extent, or he would've stopped us then, I'm sure.” James said, looking at Harry for back up, which Harry quickly gave. He saw Lily smile at him from behind Harry, who was nodding, and grinned back, internally doing cartwheels. Peter was right; everything had been different since Harry's arrival. He liked it.

Peter didn't. As Harry nodded, and Peter noted that everyone was taking his word for it, he decided that he wanted to get power like that over people. No one ever listened to him, and the only people who had ever listened to him, his friends, (even if they had only listened to him to poke fun at him) were now listening to Harry. He would do whatever it took to gain that sort of power over people. It was then that he decided to go to Malfoy. Malfoy was sure to be a Death Eater, a stronger one. So what if he was a little younger? He could get Peter a position as a Death Eater.

What Peter didn't realize was that people didn't listen to Harry because they feared him, like they did because they feared Voldemort. No, they respected him, and sometime respect outweighs fear.

“So what should we do with him?” James asked, still grinning, even though Peter had just stormed out. Lily had smiled at him!

“Well…I don't see why we can't just leave him here. I mean, it was in self defense…” Sirius said hopefully.

“Go after Peter, Sirius.” Remus urged, ignoring them. “He looked really upset, and you're the only one who didn't disagree with him.”

But Sirius remembered what he had told himself, and remembered the frustration and fear in Harry's voice. Most of all, he remembered Harry words. “ Sirius! Don't go after Peter!” They may have been whispered, but they were said, and Sirius would listen to them.

There would come a time when he'd wish he hadn't.

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7. Halloween Homesickness

AN- It's back! AND BETTER THAN EVER! I'm sorry this took so long, but I had all of my chapters erased after several virises. It's difficult to re-write something you already wrote, but I now have this and the three chapters following it done, and I'll continue to work for reviews. Again, if you have any suggestions or corrective criticism, (or you just feel like being nice and telling me that I did a good job) please feel free to drop a review, but bad flames aren't appreciated or welcome. You of course are allowed to have your own opinions, but please think before you share them with me. Flames are cruel, pointless, and a waste of time, and they hurt people. (Like ME!) so don't send me flames. Thanks

Disclaimer- I don't own it, but this chapter alone took as long for me to get out as one of Rowling's books. How does she do it? Oh, yeah! It's her job. I've got school, cheerleading, SADD, friends and boys to worry about. Sigh. I can't wait to write for a job.

For the first time in his life, Harry felt homesick.

It wasn't that he hadn't missed Hogwarts when he had spent the summer away, but usually he was busy resenting the Dursleys or solving some sort of mystery. In this time period, there wasn't all that much to do.

Sure, there was still Quidditch, and the Marauders kept him busy and involved in all of their pranks, but there just wasn't the never-ending problem to solve or mystery to crack that there had always been in his time.

And his homesickness didn't really even make sense. He was in Hogwarts, the only place he had ever considered home, and was surrounded by people he'd always wanted to have a chance to meet, people who, for the most part, cared about him as much as he cared about them.

But there was no Ron to laugh with. There was no Hermione to complain to. Without his two best friends, life just seemed…bleaker.

His homesickness was even worse that day, because it was Halloween. The day that, several years before…wait, several years later…well, the day his parents had died. Before, it hadn't held nearly as much significance as it now did. Now, he knew them enough to miss not only the idea of having parents but the idea of having them for parents. Lily would've made an excellent mum, and James seemed like he would've been a fun father. Sirius even would have been a wonderful father figure to grow up with, and the temptation to change the future was only growing stronger. Just a long talk with some of the Marauders and he could create a parallel universe and save his parents' lives, or at least keep Sirius out of Azkaban.

“You all right, Harry?” Lily asked, snapping Harry out of his thoughts and back to his dinner. Looking up, he realized that Sirius, Remus and Lily were all directing concerned looks at him. (Peter was too busy eating to notice anything wrong with Harry, and James was too busy staring and Lily to notice anything at all.)

“Um…yeah. I'm just not very hungry. Saving some room for the feast later on, right?” Sirius seemed to buy this excuse, and turned back to his meal, but both Lily and Remus made it quite clear that they didn't believe him before they directed their attention away from him.

“Anyways, like I was saying, in the muggle world, Halloween's totally different. Everyone dresses up, and people tell scary stories to each other that night, and…well, I guess Hogwarts has the candy, but in the muggle world, the children go to their neighbors houses and get candy from them.” Lily was trying, (unsuccessfully,) to explain the muggle traditions of Halloween to James and Sirius, both of whom were pureblood and didn't understand most of it.

“But…why would the neighbor give away their candy like that?” James asked, his expression puzzled.

“Because…because that's just what you're supposed to do. The kids get the candy, and the adults give the candy out. That way, you get a bunch of different kinds of candy.” Harry bit on his lower lip to keep from laughing as he watched Lily confuse Sirius and James even more.

“But…why wouldn't you just buy lots of different kinds of candy, and keep all of it. That way, you don't have to go to other people's houses.” James argued, honestly and completely lost.

Lily, losing patience with them, said, “Because that's not how you trick-or-treat!”

James's intelligent “Huh?” And Sirius's “What's trick-or-treating?” was all Harry could take before he started chuckling, then trying to ignore the murderous look Lily directed at him. To get himself back in her good books, (from what he now knew about his mother, he knew he didn't want to be in her bad books,) Harry attempted to explain things a little better.

“Muggles dress up at Halloween to scare people. To them, witches have big noses and warts, and wizards all look like Dumbledore, and ghosts are figments of the imagination. It's the one night of the year that they don't mind getting scared. People actually go to haunted houses for entertainment.” Sirius and James now seemed excited at the idea of a muggle Halloween.

“What else?”

“Well, um…we watch scary movies, we try to scare each other-“

“You mean you try to prank each other, and it's okay because it's Halloween?” James's excitement was contagious, and Sirius had already caught it.

“Exactly.” For a moment, Harry was pleased with how well they had caught on. Then, he noticed the manic gleam that lit the eyes of the two most dangerous and juvenile Marauders and Lily sitting at the table to his left, shaking her head as she massaged her temples.

“And they were doing so good, too. The pranks had almost all gone away…” The situation was too exciting and funny for Harry to feel too much pity for Lily. Sure, she'd probably have some sort of mess to clean up tonight, but the idea of planning another elaborate prank made all sympathy he had for her disappear.

Later on, Harry was still trying to explain muggle traditions to Sirius and James, this time with Remus's help. The four of them were carving jack-o-lanterns, while Peter was removing the guts.

“I guess it's the night you get to pretend that you're someone you're not.” Harry said irritably. He was getting tired of trying to explain why muggles dressed up for Halloween. Then, when he thought back on his comment, he realized that he'd been doing a lot of that lately. Pretending to be some he wasn't.

He left his pumpkin for Peter to carve and took a walk around the lake, his hands buried into his pockets to ward off the brisk October air. As it began to grow dark, Lily joined him, walking silently by his side for a while.

“What's wrong?” She asked finally, her quiet voice echoing and ending their mutual silence.

“Nothing…” Harry replied out of habit, his voice quiet.

“No, something's wrong.” Lily argued, stopping to meet his eyes.

Harry smiled at his mother's determination to figure out what was wrong and find some way to fix it. She knew him too well, like Hermione. She always knew when something was wrong, and this time she wasn't there to fix it, so Harry didn't know what to do.

“I guess I'm just a little homesick.” Lily gave him a look that told him that she knew that his problem was a lot bigger, and he was surprised when she went back to walking next to him in silence.

After a while of this unexpected silence, Harry asked, “So you aren't going to push me for more?”

“We all have secrets, Harry, and we all know that you have secrets.” At Harry's panicked expression, she quickly tried to calm him down. “We don't know your secrets, just that you have them. You came out of nowhere, you don't talk very much about your life before you showed up here, and most of the time you have this look on your face that just…” When he gave her a look that urged her to continue, Lily found she couldn't. There was no way to describe the look that everyone had seen at least once.

“You just seem so much…older. I don't know, I just feel like there's a lot more to you than you're telling us-“ She spoke over him to finish her sentence, as he hurried to defend his secrets. “But that's okay, because we all trust you. There your secrets, and I don't think you like thinking about most of them. I don't think I want to know them.”

This surprised Harry. Hermione constantly craved knowledge, but Lily didn't seem to need it like Hermione did. Worse, Harry missed Hermione's determination to find out whatever it was that he was hiding. It was like a game that he always lost but loved to play anyways.

Still, he was grateful for Lily's calm acceptance of his secrets and his moods. Somehow, knowing that she didn't need to know all about him was reassuring. She trusted him and cared about him, and that was more than enough.

“Come on. James and his crew have locked themselves up in their dorms, muttering something about pumpkins and candy, and the feast is starting soon. Whatever their planning's bound to happen then.” Lily guided Harry back to the school and out of the cool October air.

Lily was right. In the middle of the feast, all of the food disappeared like always. Normally, however, the dishes of dinner were replaced by candy and desserts. This time, the platters were empty.

Floating above each table suddenly appeared a giant jack-o-lantern. Each pumpkin had a different face carved on it for a different house. Suddenly, the jack-o-lantern grew and blew up, covering the tables with more candy than would normally have appeared. Sirius and James had apparently gone all-out, and had probably gone to Honeydukes at some point and bought some of the items that the school didn't normally have.

Harry noted, with no small amount of amusement, that the Slytherin's pumpkin had been filled not with candy, but with the guts of the pumpkin.

“Whoops.” Sirius snickered and muttered to Harry, “Must've forgotten to clean it out.” Despite Lily's glare, Harry couldn't help but laugh as he watched Snape pick the pumpkin guts and seeds out of his hair with a look of disgust on his face.

And as he munched on his candy and traded spooky stories with Lily, Harry reflected that this might just be his best Halloween yet. Sure, he hadn't battled a troll, attended a death-day party, or saved the world…but there was always next year. This year, he wanted to enjoy the time he had with his family. It didn't matter what had happened the previous Halloweens…well, really, what would happen in future Halloweens…that Halloween was one he spent with his family. So no, Harry didn't save the world that Halloween. But it was still one he'd never forget.

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8. Stuck On the Stairs

This chapter is dedicated to all those faithful readers who continued to wait patiently for an update, and picked it back up even after the months that it took for me to rewrite everything. It's especially dedicated to madhu893, TheOtherAudrey, Princess, and JayaMioneDurron, who reviewed to tell me that not only are they still reading, but also I haven't lost my touch. If I forgot you or misspelled your name, please let me know so that I can fix my mistakes.

Disclaimer- When you rent a movie, you're supposed to rewind,

So if you read this story, please leave a review behind.

I don't own the Potterverse, so I ask that you don't sue,

I'm also simply asking you to leave me a review.

It had taken many fights, more than a few ground rules, and quite a few talks with Harry, but eventually James and Lily had formed an uneasy truce. They still didn't talk about personal matters with one another, but by the middle of November they could at least have a civil conversation about their Head duties and homework.

James was thrilled every time he talked to Lily, even if it was just for a few moments. He'd wait until she was out of earshot, and then tell the rest of his friends all about their conversation, even if it was just a few words, then fall into his monologue on how beautiful and smart and sweet Lily was.

At first, Harry had found it funny. Then, he had learned to tolerate it. Then, he had tried to block it out.

But by now, it was just getting annoying.

“Why doesn't he ever actually tell her all of these things, instead of repeating them to us over and over again?” Harry asked Remus, exasperated.

Remus smirked. “He can stand up to the most frightening of teachers, and talk back to the Headmaster himself, but when it comes it Lily, James just isn't brave enough.” Somehow, this reminded Harry of something Hermione had said once. Only she'd been ranting about how he could face Voldemort time and time again and yet he couldn't just apologize to Cho for doing something stupid.

And why was he thinking of Hermione again? Better yet, what had he been thinking about before?

“Harry?” Remus was waving his hand in front of his friend's face. He knew that dazed expression all too well; it was the same one James wore every time he talked about Lily. Harry rarely wore such an expression, and Remus was curious to what or who could've caused it, but he didn't feel that he knew Harry well enough to ask. Instead, he asked, “Why? Did you have something in mind?”

“Huh?”

Patiently, Remus gave a brief summery of their conversation just moments before and repeated his question. “Did you think of some way to get James to stop talking to us about Lily and start talking to Lily?”

Slowly, a manic grin grew on Harry's face. “Yeah. I might have some idea.”

Remus would've been afraid. In fact, had that grin been directed towards himself, he definitely would have run for his life. But as it was, that evil smile was directed towards James, so Remus leaned forward with a matching expression that held interest and amusement.

“Well, what'd you have in mind?”

Sirius smiled slightly as he walked into the dorms later and saw Harry and Remus huddled together on Harry's bed, their homework forgotten, as they leaned over a piece of parchment. A very familiar piece of parchment…

“You showed him the map?” Sirius asked, his voice rising slightly.

Remus arched one eyebrow up at him and said, “Yeah. Why?”

“Well…it's just, we're all supposed to vote before we show something like that to anyone, even Harry. You know that!” For some reason, it upset Sirius to see that Harry had gotten so close to Remus, to see that Remus had shown Harry the map without him being there to see. Somehow, he felt a little left out.

“But…I thought you were all for us telling Harry everything, remember?” Remus asked, hesitantly. He always hated fighting with the friends he still couldn't believe he had and didn't want to lose.

“Well, yeah, I'm all for it, but James might not be! Or Peter! How could you not ask any of us?”

“I made it.” Remus pointed out logically. “Therefore, the map is mine to show to whomever I choose. Besides, we couldn't tell this to James.”

Something about the smile on Remus's face and the light in Harry's eyes told Sirius that maybe he should just forget about Marauder protocol this once. If Remus was breaking tradition for whatever it was they were doing, then it had to be worth it.

“Well, I might have to let it pass this once. It depends.” Sirius smile made both of them return the grin. “What're we doing?”

When the three boys left the dormitory the next morning, identical smirks on their faces, everyone within three feet of them instinctively took a step back and winced. Someone was going to be pranked, and everyone hoped it wasn't them.

Lily was instantly suspicious when she saw those innocent looks. She had. In the last several months, gotten to know Harry Potter very well, and if there was one thing she knew about him, it was this; Harry Potter was never innocent.

“You have any idea what they're up to?” She muttered under her breath to James, who was sitting two seats down, the space between them reserved for Harry. Bemused, James shook his head. Some poor sod was about the be the victim of a prank.

“No idea.” He replied, adding at Lily's look, “Really, I don't know what they're doing. I was in the Prefect meeting until late last night, remember? By the time I was up there, they were already in bed. I was really bummed, too. I'd wanted to tell them about the new Seventh year privileges.” Lily studied his face for a moment, and when she saw only sincere honesty, she reluctantly nodded.

All day everyone was expecting some sort of elaborate prank, but none ever came. Everything seemed normal, aside from the time that Sirius, Remus, and Harry spent in the library, bent over books about Charms and Hogwarts. Otherwise, the day was average, and it wasn't until much later that night that anyone was pranked at all.

Lily sighed when the stairs started to shift again. It was late at night, she'd been patrolling the halls silently with James Potter for hours on end, and she just wanted to go to bed. Even after years at Hogwarts, she didn't understand why the stairs had to shift and stick her in some deserted corridor at exactly the wrong moment.

But the staircase didn't move to another corridor. It got about halfway there, and then stopped in midair, leaving Lily and James with no way of getting anywhere.

They waited for a few moments before either of them said anything. Finally, James said, “I don't think it's moving.”

Lily rolled her eyes, sat on a step, and buried her head in her hands. “Well, how do we get off then?”

“I don't know.” James answered easily. He didn't seem at all upset or tired, just curious. “Are the stairs even supposed to be able to do this? I mean, what if this happened in between classes and students were stuck here?”

Lily shook her head. “I read about it in `Hogwarts, A History.'” From his little hiding space in a nearby corner, Harry felt a pang. Every time someone mentioned that book, he remembered Hermione, and felt a pang of homesickness and sadness. He listened again to his extendable ears.

“This was an old defense strategy for the castle.” She continued, then sighed when James shot her a puzzled look. “If enemies were creeping about the castle at night, they couldn't really get anywhere, now could they?”

“But…but what about the students?” James asked.

Lily smiled slightly. “The students knew better than to slip out of bed at night.”

James frowned as he thought about this. Deciding that it made sense, he asked, “Well why don't they do this anymore? Then we wouldn't have to patrol all the time; the castle could take care of it for us.”

Lily frowned, not as though she was annoyed, but as though she were trying to remember. “I think someone tried to jump to another floor beneath them, slipped, and died.” James raised both of his eyebrows and shook his head.

“Well, there goes my first suggestion.” Lily spared him a tired smile, and James felt a jolt of energy. “So what do we do now?”

Lily ran a hand through her short red hair, like James always had through his messy black hair. The gesture was out of frustration, but James couldn't help but smile. She wasn't purposely being hypocritical, but he couldn't help but think that maybe she'd picked this gestured up after yelling at him for doing it so many times.

“I don't know.” Lily murmured tiredly. “If the whole castle's gone into defense mode, doing any sort of magic in the halls really isn't a good idea. The founders cast all sorts of jinxes and curses to prevent people from doing anything at night.” James nodded, thinking of that kid trying to jump to the floor below and just missing, then falling, falling…

Shaken by the idea of that happening to him, James sat a few steps up from Lily.

Eventually, James really got tired of the silence. He didn't do well with silence, and he'd always been more awake at night than during the day. Most of his friends joked that he was nocturnal, but all of the Marauders could handle late nights pretty well; they were used to them.

“Do you think there's a reason the castle's like this?” James asked, concerned.

Lily's head shot up from where it was still buried in her hands, her eyes wide. “Oh, I didn't think about that…someone could be hurt, or in danger. Oh…but we're responsible for all of the students.”

“If something had happened, we would've seen it when we were patrolling though, right?” James asked logically. His voice sounded like he was trying to convince himself as much as he was trying to convince her.

“Right…” She murmured uneasily, biting her lip. She noticed the concerned expression on James's face, and instantly jumped to the wrong conclusion. “You do know what it is that your friends are up to! I bet you four have been planning this all along! And now you're worried that they've been caught in the dark somewhere pulling some prank!”

James's concern transformed into anger. “Yeah, I'm worried about my friends, but not because I think they've gotten caught. We don't get caught when we pull a prank. But someone might be hurt, and it really wouldn't surprise me if it were Sirius or Harry or Remus or Peter! Peter's been acting really distant since Harry came, and Sirius just seems to go looking for trouble, and Remus just seems to find trouble and Harry…” James smiled slightly and calmed down as he thought of a way to describe Harry.

“Harry just seems to be trouble?” Lily finished helpfully, a small smile on her face. Harry did seem to change a lot of people's lives. It really was a lot like in her life there was a BH, for Before Harry, and an AH, for After Harry. If someone was hurt or in trouble, chances were Harry had something to do with it.

“Yeah.” James said quietly, running his fingers through his hair out of habit before letting them rest in his lap. Lily thought about it, but in the end didn't tell James off for running his hand over his hair again. Sure, it made his hair messier, but he didn't seem to do it on purpose anymore. Now it sort of seemed more like a nervous movement.

“Sorry. It's just…I guess it's just habit to blame things on you.” Lily muttered half-heartedly.

“Well, I wonder why.” James said sarcastically. “It really isn't always my fault. Sometimes it's Snape's, or Sirius's, or someone completely and totally unrelated to me.”

“Fine. 99.9% of the time, it's you.” Lily deadpanned, and James grinned and nodded in agreement. Seeing his dopey smile, Lily couldn't help but smile herself. “You really do like causing trouble.” She said, the laughter in her eyes contrasting with her serious face.

James again nodded easily. “But you have to admit, I've been a little better.”

“A lot better.” Lily agreed. Ever since Harry had set James and his crew straight on what was considered fair when attacking an opponent, the pranks had been enjoyable and light. It was like the was a BH James and an AH James, and Lily found that she didn't really mind the AH James.

“So why'd you change?”

James began to realize that he was having an actual conversation with Lily Evans and brightened up considerably, and proceeded to talk to Lily about anything and nearly everything for the rest of that night. It wasn't until the sun began to filter in through the windows that the staircase gave an abrupt jolt that they both stood up. Lily tried to straighten herself up, and James dragged himself up, clinging onto the rail of the stairs.

“Well…I'm going to bed.” The staircase came to an abrupt stop as it reached the proper corridor, and Lily nearly fell back down. James quickly and gently gripped her elbow and helped her regain her balance. When she gave him a questioning look, he smiled sheepishly.

“Sorry. Reflexes. I'm not a seeker anymore, but they're still there.” Lily smiled slightly, then tucked her hair behind her ear and murmured a quiet, `thank you' before she turned away and began her walk towards their dorms. James took the time to pick up his bag carefully and stretch, but called out down the hall, “Good night, Lily.”

Lily turned around to walk backwards for a moment, so that she was facing him, and called back, “Good night, James.”

Grinning triumphantly, James began to walk not towards Gryffindor tower, but instead towards a banister a few feet away.

Slumped behind it and sound asleep were Sirius, Remus, and Harry. James grinned and conjured a bucket of cold water, glad that he was able to use magic again. Slowly he positioned the bucket over his friend's head, and then levitated it until it hovered just over Sirius, who was in the middle and snoring slightly.

Had anyone been in the halls and watching, they would've wondered why Remus, Sirius and Harry were chasing James down the corridor at six in the morning, soaking wet and angry, while James cackled merrily and ran, waving his arms all over the place.

Peter, clutching his left arm, sure wondered when he was heading back from the Slytherin dorms. For a moment, as he watched them run and laugh, he wondered if he'd made a mistake by going to Lucius Malfoy and taking the mark from the Dark Lord.

But then he watched Harry trip over a hysterical James, and saw Sirius and Remus fall into the dog pile, and reflected that maybe this would be the thing to get him there. He hadn't been like that with his friends even before Harry had come, and now it hurt to see someone so new be accepted so easily, while Peter, who'd been there since the beginning, had never been accepted at all.

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9. Snow and Sisters

AN- Sorry this chapter took so long to get out, everyone. I'm still retyping the whole thing after it got erased, and after I go over it again I find so may errors. That combined with my increasing workload as a high school student and the fact that I actually have a life now, (it's a boring one, but it's still a life outside of the house nonetheless) has kept me busy and slightly overwhelmed. Still, please review me to tell me what you think so far.

Disclaimer- Nothing's mine but the idea of the fic…

Harry had, in the few months since he'd dropped literally out of the sky and into Hogwarts, changed everyone around him. James had become less arrogant and childish, Remus had become less introverted and quiet, Peter had become more angry and weak, and Sirius had become more compassionate towards others, and more perceptive of others feelings.

And as Harry thought about it, he realized that he'd changed his mother a little, too.

Sure, she was still McGonagall's favorite. She still made the perfect Head Girl, still told James off for chewing with his mouth open, and still demanded attention when she spoke simply because of how she held herself.

Only now, she was laughing when she told James off for chewing with his mouth open. She had learned not only to speak and demand other's attention, but also to listen to the other side of the story. And she smiled a lot more.

The last change was the most prominent. Lily's new, upbeat attitude had made her new friends, caused her to be more open to other's opinions, and had forced her to generally lighten up. It was like Harry had forced James to grow up a little, and made Lily realize that she was still just a teenager, in the years when life couldn't always be serious.

“Oof.” And that proved it. Harry tried to brush all of the snow out of the back of his shirt and cloak and turned to glare at the possible culprits. All of the Marauders, and Lily. “All right. Who did it?”

A few months ago, the Marauders would have instantly been handed the blame.

Now, all four of them shrugged at him and then turned to her. Lily, grinning vindictively, carefully packed a snowball and took aim. The snowball hit it's mark and sent Sirius into a string of curses as he tried to thaw his face back out.

SPLAT!

“Oh, Evans, you're going down!”

The snowball fight that followed left all five boys flat on their backs in the snow as Lily hurled snowball after snowball at them, only giving them enough time to cover their heads with their arms and occasionally fire something resembling a snowball back at her. When dusk had finally fallen, everyone was cold, tired, and hungry.

“Where'd you learn to throw snow like that, Evans?” Sirius asked later on, breaking the comfortable silence that they had fallen into since arriving at dinner.

Lily smiled slightly. “My dad. We always used to have snowball fights and go sledding after the first snow. It was tradition. Just Petunia, Dad, Mum and me.” The soft smile and shining eyes made Harry wonder about the girl who would become his aunt, and what she had been like in this time.

“You miss them?” He asked, truly curious.

“Sometimes. But I still see them every Christmas, and it's only a couple weeks away now.” Lily replied, taking another bite of the chicken on her plate. “I have to go this time, too. My older sister's getting married!”

Harry was pretty sure that a piece of the biscuit he accidentally inhaled at that moment would be permanently lodged in his throat. “You all right there, Harry?” Sirius asked, roughly pounding on Harry's back. Brushing off Sirius's concern, Harry tuned back in to the conversation.

“Yeah, only one older sister, Petunia.” Lily was replying as she buttered a roll.

“I've never heard you mention her before.” James said, truly interested.

Lily looked amused. “Well, we've only been on civil terms for a little while now, and there was never really any reason to bring her up.” She replied. “She's a muggle, of course, like the rest of my family.”

It seemed quite a bit like she was testing James, despite the fact that she and everybody else knew that he didn't mind muggleborns. At first, Harry couldn't understand this, until he realized that perhaps Lily was a little more under confidant than she let on about her muggle bloodlines.

James nodded, but didn't seem to pay any extra attention to the fact that Lily's family was muggle. “So, she's getting married over Christmas break?” He asked.

Lily nodded, an annoyed look on her face. “Right on Christmas Eve, too.” Lily muttered, seeming irritated.

“What? You don't like her?” Harry asked, hopeful. Maybe his aunt had always despised magic, and he really hadn't made it any worse. A small part of him still thought that maybe it wasn't his magic that his aunt hadn't liked; that she didn't dislike magic, she just hated him.

Lily sighed. “There are times she can get pretty annoying.” In the moment of silence that followed, she was clearly remembering several of those times, “but she's still my sister, so I guess I have to love her, don't I?”

Harry didn't reply, because he wasn't entirely sure what to say. Even the smallest and most insignificant comment could start something in this time that didn't fit into his own, and he wasn't sure what would happen as a result.

James didn't let the subject go nearly as easily. “How can she dislike magic though? It makes everything so much easier, and so much more beautiful.” James, who had been raised in a magical household, was staring incredulously at Lily.

Lily shrugged. Remus, who was buttering a roll and silently listening to the conversation, spoke up. “You know, she's probably jealous of it. I mean, it would be a little upsetting to see your younger sister have a gift that you knew you would never have.”

“She sees it as unnatural.” Lily said by way of reply. “And I'm really not sure how to change her mind about it.”

“Well, maybe you should try doing something nice for her wedding, or Christmas.” Sirius suggested. Everyone turned to look at him, some gaping and some, (like Peter) confused. “What?” He asked, irritated.

“Padfoot…that was actually a good idea.” James answered for everyone, causing everyone but Sirius to laugh.

That night, as Harry and the Marauders helped Lily create a beautiful magical Christmas ornament for Petunia, Harry had to wonder when hi aunt had begun to hate magic…and anyone involved with it.

“What are you thinking about?” Remus's quiet voice complete caught Harry off guard.

“Nothing, really.” He turned slightly and saw Lily laugh at something James had said, her head thrown back and her expression open and relaxed. “She's really changed since she got to know James.”

Remus stared at him thoughtfully. “No. She's really changed since she met you. I think you're the first person who ever successfully got her to laugh at a joke, or actually have a civil conversation with Sirius.” They both watched, amused, as Lily swatted at Sirius's head after he suggestively winked at her, wiggling his eyebrows flirtatiously. Remus laughed. “Well, a reasonably civil conversation, anyway.”

“They seem to be getting along pretty well.” Harry agreed, smiling slightly.

“Who? Lily and Sirius?” Remus asked, surprised.

“No! Lily and James.” Harry answered, shivering at the thought of Sirius dating his mother. He wasn't sure what it might change in the future, but for all he knew he might cease to exist.

But his future mother and father did seem to be much closer, and Harry would have to say that out of all of them, it seemed like James was now at least as close to Lily as Harry himself was.

“He's liked her for years.” Remus murmured. “Everyone knew it, especially her. He used to ask her out al the time, in the weirdest ways too. At first she might've been a little flattered by the attention, but you know how fifteen year old boys can be, and…”

Harry nodded, understanding. Clearly, Lily had held James's actions prior to the seventh year against him. He could understand that, but he was relieved to see that his parents had at least become friends by Christmas of their seventh year.

When Harry noticed that James had received a small gift from Lily the next day, he wondered if maybe the easy friendship they had developed was becoming something more.

“It's not like it's some expensive heart-felt present.” James pointed out when Sirius began to voice Harry's thoughts just moments later. “It's just a picture of all of us in a nice frame.”

“You didn't get a book, though.” Peter pointed out, holding up his own present from the redhead. Grinning, Harry unwrapped his own present and was surprised to find a beautiful snow globe, with `Merry Christmas' spelled into the middle. Alongside it, of course, was a book on word enchantments.

“I'm not complaining.” Remus murmured, his nose already buried in the book Lily had left him, this one titled `The Everyday Cure”. Harry guessed that Lily had noticed, like everyone else who knew Remus but not his condition, how often Remus `fell ill', and had decided to make an effort to make him more healthy. He grinned; it was something that would have been typical Hermione.

His spirits dropped a little as he thought of his friends back in his own time. They had to be worried by now, with him having been gone for months on end. Hermione would be mad as hell if he ever returned…no, when he returned. Staying behind wasn't an option.

“You know, Prongsy, for someone who's gotten `just a picture' for Christmas, you don't seem very disappointed about it.” Sirius pointed out. Harry noted that even the teasing smile on Sirius's face couldn't rival the ecstatic expression on James's.

For once, James didn't have a come-back.

The rest of Winter Break passed relatively normal, with the exception of the several small pranks that the Marauders played on the staff and students remaining at the school for Christmas.

The suffocating hug that Lily greeted Harry with upon her return reminded Harry of one of Mrs. Weasley's hugs; warm and comforting. He smiled at the knowledge that his mother had been acting like a mother towards him before he'd even existed.

“So how did the wedding go?” Remus asked after dinner as they settled into the common room to relax before bed and the return to classes the following morning.

Lily looked up from the homework that she was trying to help Sirius finish at the last second. “Oh, it was horrible! We were almost lucky we even had it, and it was all my fault!”

Sirius frowned as James asked, “Well, what happened?”

“I gave her that ornament we made when it was just her husband and my family at dinner, because I didn't want anyone to see it and ask how it was made.” Lily explained, abandoning the homework that Sirius had apparently forgotten about. “But I didn't take into consideration that there was a chance that she hadn't told him about magic either.”

The group listening winced sympathetically. “He threw a fit about it! He went on and on about how freaky magic was and h-how I was a f-freak for having it.” As Lily started to tear up, Harry comforted her and felt a small amount of satisfaction; Vernon hadn't just been a jerk to him, then. He'd been a jerk to everybody.

“And he tried to call the wedding off, and it was the night before Christmas Eve, so nobody was really sure what to do about it. Petunia blamed me for everything, and the wedding almost completely fell apart, but it really wasn't my fault!” Lily pointed out, her face flushing as her anger built. “That guy was an ass before he ever knew about magic! He was probably just looking for an excuse to call the whole thing off, and that was the first one he could think up!”

Harry saw where this was going, and grimaced slightly. A moment later, Lily proved his theory right. “And let me guess; you told her so.” Harry said, almost groaning when the redhead nodded proudly.

“Yes I told her so! So she blew up at me for ruining everything, and… well, I got really upset about it, I guess, because she was so embarrassed about me, and I kind of sort of…” Here, Lily broke off in her story and blushed.

“Kind of sort of what?” Remus prodded, trying to get the rest of the story.

Lily hesitantly continued. “Well, I kind of sort of did a little accidental magic.”

“What kind of accidental magic?” James asked.

Lily's face turned even redder. “Well…the kind of accidental magic that can leave one's sister completely bald on the night before her wedding.” Everyone started laughing, and eventually Lily couldn't help but join in. At the time, it had seemed so serious and she'd felt guilty for hours afterwards; the magic reversal squad and seeing his fiancé bald didn't improve Vernon's opinion of the magical community. Now, laughing with her friends about it in the common room, the event seemed more like a practical joke than a mistake.

Besides, the look on Petunia's face made it all worth it.

But Lily began to frown again as she remembered her sister's cold and unfeeling behavior towards her following the incident. They'd been growing apart ever since Lily had been accepted into Hogwarts; maybe this was the push that her sister needed to actually cut ties completely.

The topic changed, and Lily forgot about her sister's anger towards her in favor of helping Harry tease James. Petunia may be mad about how magic had messed up her wedding, (her hair had grown back, but it had come in too thin and in the wrong color) but she'd get over it eventually.

She couldn't hate magic. And she certainly couldn't hate Lily. After all, they were sisters.

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